Right so I'm 18 in march and I own a 1.4 8v 6n.

I went on go compare to see what kinda of prices I would be looking at in 3 months time when I turn 18, I am getting quotes at around £1500. For shits and giggles I put in details of a B5 20vt 1.8 passat estate ... and get a quote of £990?! What the fuck!? All of the other detials were the same, only changed the car.

What kind of sense does this make?

I'm buying a passat.

Edited 14 December, 201015 yr by Mr Dubs

all about the risk i guess. would imagine there are more claims made by polo owners, than passat owners due to the type of people that generally drive them. polos being driven by less experienced drivers who are more likely to have a small shunt and passat owners normally being middle aged and less likely to have a shunt.

i recently went to swap my insurance from a mildly tuned polo g40 (which is off the road for winter) to a mazda mx5 pov spec 1.6 and they want nearly twice as much. it worked out cheaper to get a new policy and leave the polo fully insured!

all about the risk i guess. would imagine there are more claims made by polo owners, than passat owners due to the type of people that generally drive them. polos being driven by less experienced drivers who are more likely to have a small shunt and passat owners normally being middle aged and less likely to have a shunt.

now that does make sense.

I'm now searching around for passat prices

dont blame you! tdi would be the one to go for though, frugal, tuneable, normally a good spec too

well my insurance fancy wapping on 2k because I've moved house!

I hope your not buying a 20v passat expecting it to be some kind of performance car? If you are you will be dissapointed. Also make sure you can afford to run one before you jump in, my mate had his mk4 gti for 2 weeks before it was back up for sale due to running costs. He tried to kid himself that if he drove it around off boost it wouldn't be to bad on fuel, he soon found that wasn't the case

defo go for the tdi over the 20vt, theres a good reason that the tdi's hold there price better.

I hope your not buying a 20v passat expecting it to be some kind of performance car?

no, no I'm not. but take into account that i drive a 1.4 8v 6n - i can safely say that a 20v passat would feel very quick to me.

so you guys recommend the tdi over the 20v? performance wise would there be much difference? has anyone driven either? if so please leave some input for me.

i've been told how economical the tdi's are :)

I've never driven either, but I've been in friends cars which have both. one a mk4 golf 180bhp anni gti. not great on fuel, felt fairly quick, but no quicker than my g40 till you are doing way above the legal speed limit. the other a mildly tuned mk4 golf td gti running 170bhp. as quick on my g40 across the range and will still give mid 40s mpg. I can see no reason to pick a petrol over a modern diesel engine other than the noise they make. In all other areas the oil buner wins, no question.

td's are cheap to tune too, a simple remap and hello 20-30% more power and no ill effects on fuel consumption.

i've driven a friends 20vt mk4 golf and it didn't feel quick at all, it went ok but i was very under whelmed and couldn't help thinking 'is that it?'

probably due to every one raving on about the 20vt engine all the time and my only other experience of a 20vt was being a passenger in a tuned 20vt mk2 golf. in standard form and in a heavy car it just becomes very watered down, i guess this would be even more the case in a heavier passat.

i have driven another mates tdi passat tho and i loved it. maybe it's because it's not trying to be a sporty car and failing like the mk4 gti golf. this one is a 110 (non PD) and has been chipped up to about 140bhp which doesn't sound a lot more but it's totally transformed the way it pull's and he's always surprising people in 'quick' car's. it's far from the most nibble car's around bends but it's a big people lugger so it was never meant to be, but even with it chipped he still get's impressive mpg's. even with cheap coilies on it's still nice nice to drive

here's a pic of it but it's got better wheels on it now

Same story for me, I'm nearly 19 with 1 years no claims, and a B5 1.8t passat estate is cheap on insurance.

I've wanted a passat estate for ages, just never got one cos I thought I would only be able to insure a 1.8 20v or a rubbish diesel (as in low powered), but this has got me thinking about going for a 20vT.

Edited 14 December, 201015 yr by patchb

thanks for the replies :)

looks like i will have to have a think about it :)